Carbohydrates are an important part of your
diet, but that doesn't mean you're free to load up on cakes and cookies to get
your daily amount. Here, we explain the difference between good and bad
carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are an important part of a healthy
diet, but there's much discussion about the good and bad carbohydrates.
So how do you know which
is which? The answer is both simple — and complex.
Good vs. Bad Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, often
referred to as “carbs,” are your body's primary energy source, and they're a
crucial part of any healthy diet. Carbs should
never be avoided, but it is important to understand that not all carbs are
alike.
Carbohydrates can be
either simple (nicknamed "bad") or complex (nicknamed
"good") based on their chemical makeup and what your body does with
them.
Complex carbohydrates,
like whole grains and legumes, contain longer chains of sugar molecules; these
usually take more time for the body to break down and use. This, in turn,
provides you with a more even amount of energy, according to Sandra Meyerowitz,
MPH, RD, a nutritionist and owner of Nutrition Works in Louisville, Ky.
The Detail on Simple Carbohydrates
Simple carbohydrates
are composed of simple-to-digest, basic sugars with little real value for your
body. The higher in sugar and lower in fiber, the worse the carbohydrate is for you — remember those
leading indicators when trying to figure out if a carbohydrate is good or bad.
Fruits and vegetables
are actually simple carbohydrates — still composed of basic sugars, although
they are drastically different from other foods in the category, like cookies
and cakes. The fiber in fruits and vegetables changes the way that the body
processes their sugars and slows down their digestion, making them a bit more
like complex carbohydrates.
Simple carbohydrates
to limit in your diet include:
·
Soda
·
Candy
·
Artificial syrups
·
Sugar
·
White rice, white bread, and white pasta
·
Potatoes (which are technically a complex carb, but act more like simple
carbs in the body)
·
Pastries and desserts
Meyerowitz says that
you can enjoy simple carbohydrates on occasion, you just don't want them to be
your primary sources of carbs. And within the simple carb category, there are
better choices — a baked potato, white rice, and regular pasta — than others —
chips, cakes, pies, and cookies.
The Detail on Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates
are considered "good" because of the longer series of sugars that
make them up and take the body more time to break down. They generally have a
lower glycemic load, which means that you will get lower amounts of sugars
released at a more consistent rate — instead of peaks and valleys —to keep you
going throughout the day.
Picking complex
carbohydrates over simple carbohydrates is a matter of making some simple
substitutions when it comes to your meals. "Have brown rice instead of
white rice, have whole-wheat pasta instead of plain white pasta," says
Meyerowitz.
To know if a packaged
food is made of simple or complex carbohydrates, look at the label. "Read
the box so you know what exactly you're getting. If the first ingredient is
whole-wheat flour or whole-oat flower, it's likely going to be a complex
carbohydrate,” says Meyerowitz. "And if there's fiber there, it's probably
more complex in nature."
The Glycemic Load Factor
Describing carbs as
being either simple or complex is one way to classify them, but nutritionists
and dietitians now use another concept to guide people in making decisions
about the carbs they choose to eat.
The glycemic
index of a food basically tells you how quickly and how high your
blood sugar will rise after eating the carbohydrate contained in that food, as
compared to eating pure sugar. Lower glycemic index foods are healthier for
your body, and you will tend to feel full longer after eating them. Most, but
not all, complex carbs fall into the low glycemic index category.
It is easy to find
lists of food classified by their glycemic index. You can see the difference
between the glycemic index of some simple and complex carbohydrates in these
examples:
·
White rice, 64
·
Brown rice, 55
·
White spaghetti, 44
·
Whole wheat spaghetti, 37
·
Corn flakes, 81
·
100 percent bran (whole grain) cereal, 38
To take this approach
one step farther, you want to look at the glycemic load of a food. The glycemic load takes into
account not only its glycemic index, but also the amount of carbohydrate in the
food. A food can contain carbs that have a high glycemic index, but if there is
only a tiny amount of that carb in the food, it won’t really have much of an
impact. An example of a food with a high glycemic index but a low glycemic load
is watermelon, which of course tastes sweet, but is mostly water.
The bottom line: Just
be sensible about the carbs you choose. Skip low-nutrient dessert, consider the
levels of sugar and fiber in carbs, and focus on healthy whole grains, fruits,
and veggies to get the energy your body needs every day.